Happy National Feral Cat Day! Today is very important to me because I've never known the inside of a house. A feral cat, also called a community cat, is one who is wild and unsocialized to humans. Although I'm getting there, I'm not to the point of allowing the humans to touch me for more than one stroke of a finger on my head, side, or whiskers. Then I move away and hiss, or sometimes just look and hiss.
Mouses, but the house air feels warm and dry! I really want to be in that shelter, whatever the dangers are, but I'm not quite ready. I'm still too leery of what might be hiding in there. My friend Sherbet, who used to be a feral like me, lives inside now and won't come back out here. He decided once he was in, that it was his forever home!
Yep, Niss, you're right! I love it in here. I know you would, too, if you gave it a chance. While some ferals don't ever adapt to life with or around humans, some of us transition to life indoors. Once I was trapped in a humane trap and neutered, given my first shots, and got my eartip to mark me as a feral, I was brought back to be inside in the trap while I healed for a few hours. When it was time to let me out, the humans gave me that chance because that's the "return" or "release" part of trap-neuter-release (TNR). I, however, didn't want to go out! I bit the mommy on the thumb (not hard) and escaped inside the house! I've been given multiple chances to "escape", but I love my life inside. I don't trust that scary blinking thing on the wall that gives off a weird smell and emits strange sounds, and I also don't trust the daddy's electric recliner when it talks. I love playing chase around the house with the others, especially with Autumn, though! I also have a green bouncy ball that I play with for hours at a time. I love to get pets from the humans, and will brush up against their legs to tell them I'm there, then wait to be petted.
You can go to the National Feral Cat Day website for more information about cats like us, and please give your ferals an extra treat today!
